You may or may not have been hearing
rumblings from your friends, trainers, random nutrition people, that
canola oil is TOXIC, CANCER CAUSING, UNHEALTHY, CARCINOGENIC, etc, etc.
Lets investigate.
In 2013 I started hearing the rumblings myself...
"Oh my gosh you aren't going to eat that are you? It has CANOLA OIL in it! That's so bad for you. You know whole foods is banning it from all their stores."
"Oh really?" I said.
Naturally, I got curious and started asking questions. Usually these "what the health?!" topics get started when a little bit of science gets blown out of proportion and misused. So I scoured through all of my past textbooks, food science and new research and still couldn't make sense of it. Yes it is a high GMO crop, but what else is going on here? So back in 2013 I reached out to PCC and Whole Foods to see what they had to say.
From Whole Foods:
"Thank you for contacting Whole
Foods Market. WFM does allow and always has allowed canola oil. It is
used in our delis as it has a good smoke point (can be used up through
medium high- heat cooking) and a neutral flavor, making it an oil that
has a wide range of uses. It is also a source of omega 3. Canola is a
specifically bred variety of rapeseed and is part of the mustard (or
Brassica) family whose other members include broccoli, Brussels sprouts,
cabbage, kale and mustard greens. There appears to be much confusion
concerning the safety of canola oil. Whole Foods Market believes canola
oil is a safe and wholesome food and, therefore, will continue to sell
it in our stores. In order to ensure the highest quality oil possible,
we feature expeller-pressed, organic canola oil in our stores."
